In the picture above, children in Cambodia ride an adult-sized bicycle. They may not be on a bike that fits or have helmets, their tires are worn and the bike is poorly spray painted, but they’re having fun. To many children in Asia, a bicycle is a two-wheeled vehicle that moves them from one place to another, to be enjoyed with friends and siblings on adventures and exploits. Helmets are optional and they rarely get a bike in their size.

Growing up, I rode a bicycle that my brother was given by an aunt who’s kid had used it after getting it from someone else’s kid. By the time it got to me, the bike was a little bit rusty, had a fair number of dents, and had more colors than the rainbow, but it gave me a sense of freedom I didn’t otherwise have access to. It gave me the opportunity to offer to run errands and meet up for a chat with friends in my neighborhood. I was born and raised in Singapore, and because my parents both worked full-time, my father was excited to teach me and my brother to learn to ride bikes. I cannot quite remember what he did, but in the years of learning from and teaching kids how to ride, I am pretty sure that my father, like the many loving parents I have seen, made some of the following common mistakes:

Don’t hold your child’s seat, let them learn balance

Many parents try to help kids to learn to ride by holding on to the back of their seats and telling their children to pedal. This makes them unable to feel their own balancing point and it will take them longer to learn to ride.

Being on a bicycle is all about balance. Let your child learn to feel the bicycle as an extension of themselves. It’s alright for them to fall when they’re only 25 inches off the ground. That’s much easier to recover from than learning to balance when they’re 6 ft tall and about to fall.

A child that’s been given time and space to learn the balance between their bodies and bicycles will learn to steer the slender vehicle with their hips, rather than with the handlebars. This is something I am still trying to unlearn and have crashed several times copying someone else’s sharp turns without using my hips.

Last week, we held bike rodeo for youths at a school. Many children, aged between 9 and 15, almost fell as they tried to kick off and put their feet on the pedals of their bikes.

When we as parents get our children used to having that starting push, we let them never learn to start off. It works the same in life – let them learn to crawl, then walk. No person ever stuck to crawling around because no one helped them walk. Don’t get them used to getting a headstart with your efforts because when you’re not around, they’ll be lost.

Rather, show them how to rotate the pedal on the side of their master foot till it’s 3/4s way up, then with hands on the brakes so the bike isn’t sliding forward or backwards, press down on the pedal and release the brakes and the bike will move forward and the other foot can join in pedaling.

Don’t stinge on your child’s bike. If it’s too heavy for them to lift, it’s not their bike.

If you’re a cyclist yourself and you want your kid to ride with you, you can’t spend a thousand dollars on your bike, but fifty dollars on theirs. In all likelihood, the bicycle they’re on will be less agile and heavier than they can manage, with brakes, handlebars and cranks they can’t quite manage. And when you say to them: “Come on, get up, you can do it!”, you’re not being encouraging, you’re just being mean. They may try again and again, but they’ll have an inaccurate judgement of their abilities and strength.

Rather, invest in good children’s bikes if you want them to love cycling. Riding a bicycle that doesn’t fit them increases the risk of them falling and developing poor riding habits.

In the course of teaching kids and adults to ride, we often meet people who are taken aback when their bikes are finally adjusted for them. At the right size and height, the changes can feel so liberating it’s disconcerting. So start your kids off right.

It’s true, keeping kids on bikes that fit them can be pricey, but that’s why Spokes started the Family Bike Collective, a project where we maintain and service all our member bikes including flats. When our members outgrow their bikes, we’ll buy them back for 50% credit in store and members pay just $75 to upsize to the next bike. If you’d like to know more, check out spokes.bike.

Get them used to helmets, but find the right kind.

Overtime we have a kids rodeo, there’s that kid who will refuse to put on a helmet. They think it’s too heavy or they’ve been clipped under their chins before. Here’s how to begin getting a helmet on your kid:

– make sure it fits. Get them to shake their heads as though they’re saying no, and nod their heads as though they’re saying yes. Their helmet should fit their heads snugly with no wobble. Look for helmets that can be tightened and loosened to avoid having to buy a new one when their heads grow.

– if you have a kid that’s occasionally in a trailer, make sure the backs of their helmets are flat. Avoid the sporty looking ones and aerodynamism surely has no use in a trailer behind your bicycle. Keep those sporty helmets for when they don’t get a trailer anymore.

– find a helmet that’s light. Some brands are lighter than others, the lighter, the more likely your kid will forget they even have a helmet on their heads.

– Magnetic clasps are magical. They make it almost impossible for a kid to be clipped under their chins and develop that aversion to helmets.

Get them used to handbrakes

Many of the kids we help tend to try and stop their moving bicycles by putting their feet down. This often comes from learning to ride on balance bikes without handbrakes, so keep an eye out for balance bikes that have handbrakes.

The bottom line is if a child tries to stop with their feet in the face of an emergency, they’re unlikely to succeed and an accident will happen.

Fit your child to their bike

This means looking out for the following:

– Have your child stand over the top tube of the bike. He/she should be able to lift it at least two inches off the ground.

– On a down pedal while sitting on the saddle, the leg should be almost fully extended but not straightened for maximum power.

– Have them comfortably reaching for the handlebars. Some kids are more flexible than others but not everyone needs a road bike and to be bent low. A comfortable kid will ride further, longer.

If you need more information, write to me at pearly@spokesnational.com

In August this year, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the expansion of the city’s Hubway bikeshare into the less privileged neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester and East Boston. The development shortens the time needed for residents heading downtown from over an hour on foot, bus and then by train, to just 25 minutes by bike.

Boston’s bikeshare allows riders to rent a bike for just minutes or up to a month. A low-income payment option also allows qualifying residents to make unlimited trips by bike for as little as $5 a year. While this does not address the issue of unbanked individuals who cannot provide the credit or debit card used as insurance against stolen or damaged bikes, Boston’s Prescribe-a-Bike program sees that the city’s most needy don’t have an excuse to get back in their cars. It allows doctors to prescribe free bike-share membership to patients who need more exercise without requiring a card.

The combination of programs is exemplary in making bikes accessible more equitably throughout the city, but what about bike infrastructure?

Systems of bike sharing in low-income neighborhoods often seem like a great idea. Idealistically, it opens up doors to better food and healthcare, schools and job opportunities. But when streets remain cramped, as it is in Boston, with unpredictable traffic, confusing signs and road markers without bike lanes, people often remain reluctant to make lifestyle changes. Never mind that bikes are now in their neighborhood, it would be worse to get into an accident without insurance coverage and then lose a job as a sole breadwinner.

Slow Roll Chicago President and Co-Founder Oboi Reed, is among those who do not believe in the “build and they will come” strategy.

He believes that people need enjoyable and memorable experience on bikes first before they’ll consider integrating cycling into their lifestyles. To do this, Slow Roll organizes regular community rides, something more cycling groups around the nation are doing.

Just like Boston, Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C. and B-Cycle in Denver are struggling to reach low-income riders despite stepping up efforts to . Aside from language barriers, financial requirements and attitudes, it’s time to consider, with growing efforts at getting people on bikes, that sometimes the reason for not riding is as simple as the possibility of being dismissed for arriving at a minimum wage job perspiring and whole systems need to be changed for change to happen.

It’s been a challenging month, but SPOKES is delighted (that’s more than just being happy) to announce that we’ve found a home for our family business. We’re located in Berkeley, next to the famous Mr Mopp’s toy store, surrounded by loving businesses!

This Sunday, we’ll be celebrating in usual SPOKES fashion – with food, of course! We’ll be serving up some pancakes so bring fruit, chocolate, your children and pets and come on down to check out our new space.

We’re thankful for everyone who has supported us, and to everyone who has challenged us, for making us stronger, wiser, and a more resilient business.

Spokes National has relocated from Oakland to Berkeley this summer, and will be up and running late August.

For the rest of this year, this is what SPOKES is up to:

Searching for board and advisory members who wish to contribute to spreading a love for cycling, believing that it can help make communities kinder and healthier. We see cycling as a means for the less privileged to access better food options, better educational and job opportunities and build stronger, more diverse networks and hope you do too.

Finding ways to continue serving East Bay families by getting more people on bikes that fit them. That means going to conferences to meet policymakers, going to events to meet with vendors to bring in more and better brands to fit different body types, lifestyles and ambitions. Whether you want to be a unicyclist or a recumbent cyclists, SPOKES has the relationships to help guide you.

Building up support for next years triathlons and rides. If you would like to contribute or volunteer, please get in touch with us.

SPOKES National is also looking for an app developer to help create two community-oriented apps. If you’re one, or you know of one, please reach out to pearly@spokesnational.com

In the meantime, keep an eye out for SPOKES because we’ll be up to good in Berkeley!

A long time ago, there was a baker who made the best baguettes in his village. He and his wife would get up every morning at 4am to begin kneading the dough and by 7am, the line would begin forming outside his store. Customers would wait patiently, taking in the chest-warming fragrance of fresh bread turning a golden brown in an oven. At 8am, his doors would open and by 9am, he’d be done for the day.

Out-of-towners were often confused, wondering why the baker had a “sold out” sign on the window. If they pressed their noses to the glass, they’d see a small pile of baguettes still sitting on the gleaming silver trays. But everyone in the village knew why:

1 loaf for the cobbler, his daily rate for polishing the bakers shoes

1 for the the candlemaker, for his candles kept the bakers home lit at night

1 loaf for the blacksmith making him a new knife

2 loafs for the seamstress, for his wife and daughters dresses and blouses

2 for the fishmonger who made sure he got the best catches every day

3 for the butcher in return for keeping a prime cut of beef and a piece of veal

—

And so it goes, the economy today started with a trade of services, and crowdsourcing is much the same. The small business owner has the idea, his employees are service-trained and the investor has the capital. With co-operation, everyone profits while customers get good products and service.

At noon on February 10th, Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge founder Brian Drayton will be speaking at Impact Hub Oakland on crowdsourcing your small business. Admission is $15 and comes a locally made soul food meal.

Talking points:

Identifying resources within your network

Tapping into resources: Enlisting people and trading services

Donors vs Investors: What’s the difference? Is the money free or borrowed?

Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge owner Brian Drayton demonstrates how much he can do with a GenZe e-bike and a cargo trailer.

Since last week, commercial residents at Jack London Square were able to zip around on e-bikes. The bikeshare pilot program that will see eight solar powered e-bikes based at the waterfront attraction was launched early Jan at Oakland City Hall.

The e-bikes are provided by Fremont-based electric bicycle and scooter company, Mahindra Genze, and will be housed in a custom-built solar powered charging station provided by Concord-based DC Solar, making it the first solar bikeshare program in the country. What this small step in the direction to get Oaklanders out and about indicates is that perhaps we can soon expect Oakland doctors to prescribe bikeshare memberships like doctors in Boston are doing.

The electric bikeshare program is a creation of Bike Solar Oakland, a community partnership that aims to bring sustainable urban transportation via solar powered electric bicycles and scooters to Oakland, CA. The companies working together include California Clean Energy Fund, Oakland-based solar service company Sungevity and IRFTS Shadow Solar.

At the event, passers-by were allowed to test ride the bikes around the Oakland City Hall area. Those who missed the opportunity can still do so by dropping in at Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge on Grand Ave in Oakland. The community bike shop is GenZe’s sole dealer in the Bay Area and sole proprietor Brian Drayton is the man behind the effort to get doctors here to write e-bike prescriptions that will partially or fully cover their leased cost for the time patients need to be pedalling.

“Rather than get a pack of pills, I hope to see more people out riding bikes,” said Brian. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s obesity, anxiety or mental issues, riding a bike can help it because it’s a social activity that will get you out and about and working your body.”

According to the 2010 US Census, there were almost 42,000 seniors aged 65 and above living in Oakland. This number is undoubtedly higher today, and when approached at farmers markets and on the streets, many said that they used to ride bicycles but no longer did so due to health issues like leg, knee and hip pains.

So how can an e-bike help? Not only will the e-bike make it easier for seniors with disabilities to continue pedaling and working those leg muscles to stay healthy, active, alert and in the community, riding is likely to boost their confidence by empowering them with independent mobility.

The GenZe e-bikes are also environmentally considerate as their batteries will be connected to a mobile solar charging station. No fossil fuels burnt, no earth destroyed, while getting more people on bikes that fit their needs.

The e-bikes cost $1,499, and can go up to 18 mph. With detachable batteries that can be brought indoors to charge at home or at the workplace, each two hour charge can carry a rider and his load 35 miles.

“Many people think e-bikes make people lazy, but this is a pedal-assist bike, which means you’ll still have to pedal,” said Brian. “So far, I’ve carried more than 300 lbs of furniture and bicycles on my cargo trailer attached to the GenZe.”

Those interested in finding out more about GenZe e-bikes can visit Oakland Spokes at 366A Grand Ave, Oakland. For store hours, visit http://www.oaklandspokes.com

Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge may just be two months old on Grand Avenue. But sole proprietor Brian Drayton has spent the last six years planning out the community space.

In the last decade alone, more than 15 new bike shops have popped up in Oakland, a city with a fast growing bicycle culture. But none of them do things like Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge.

Located opposite Lake Merritt with a bicycle lane circling the water, a sign outside Oakland Spokes welcomes passers-by to come in and test ride bicycles all day long. Step inside the store and you can expect to be offered a hot rock to hold after getting out of the chilly Bay Area weather. And the love at the lounge doesn’t stop there. Customers, or Spokespeople, can come in and enjoy a cup of hot tea or cider on the house any time. And as it’s often said in Oakland, the store’s hours are “hella early” and “hella late”, from 8.30am to 9pm, Mondays to Fridays.

“I’ve been planning this for a long time,” said Brian, who has lived in Oakland for over 20 years. “I realized that in order to serve cyclists, I’ve to be there when they’re riding, and that’s when they’re commuting to and from work in the morning and night.”

To make sure he has time to do other stuff like social media outreach and admin duties, Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge is closed on weekdays from 11am to 2pm for appointments like bike fits, and on weekends, they’re open 9am to 5pm.

By Brian’s definition, the Spokes lounge is a community bike shop and one of the ways he makes that happen is by inviting anyone and everyone to become investors. To become an investor, one just has to pick out a product or Spokes project that they believe in and choose how many of the product they would like to purchase for Spokes to sell in-store, or how much they’d like to invest in the project.

“Spokes is all about serving the underserved,” said Brian. “This means getting community input on what they want to see in the shop, whether it’s extra small sized gloves, extra large helmets, more women’s apparel or fingerprint operated locks.”

No other bike shop in Oakland offers a similar investor program, and so far, Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge has received almost $8,000 in investment from cyclists, Oakland lovers, startup supporters and individuals familiar with Brian’s work.

Brian built his first bike at age 14 when his first bicycle was stolen. He had received a bicycle from his parents for Christmas after going above and beyond his chores for a year. But barely a week after receiving his gift, a bully took his bike and the young man began building them instead.

“I was the $14-dollar bike boy,” said Brian. “Back then, 14-dollars was a lot, and it’s how I taught myself how to put bikes together. That’s not to say that after that I didn’t have to learn about bike mechanics properly, I did.”

The $14-dollar bike boy may now be building $10,000 bikes at his shop today, but his heart remains dedicated to getting anyone and everyone on bikes.

From high-end touring bikes like Co-Motions to adult tricycles and ultra-low step-through bicycles for elders with hip and knee problems, Oakland Spokes Bike Lounge seems to have thought of something for everyone.

Next article: Not feeling well? How about a prescription for an E-bike?